Azerbaijan holds parliamentary elections, including for the first time in Nagorno-Karabakh

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 03 Sep 2024 by Alex Teddy
On September 1, Azerbaijan held parliamentary elections. They were originally supposed to be held in November but were brought forward due to Azerbaijan’s high-profile hosting of COP-29. This was the first Azerbaijani election to include the reclaimed territories in Nagorno-Karabakh. 42,000 Azerbaijanis voted in these territories out of a total of 398,000 “internally displaced people”, meaning those who had been expelled from or fled Nagorno-Karabakh in the past. Incumbent president Ilham Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan party, which has been in power since 1993, won a majority of seats, winning 68 out of 125, one fewer than in 2020. 45 seats were won by pro-Aliyev independents and the remainder by mostly pro-Aliyev minor parties. However, the largest number of seats won by one of these minor parties was 3, 65 less than President Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan. Turnout was low at just 37%, a further decrease from an already very low 47% in 2020. Much of this is caused by a continuing boycott from the Azerbaijani opposition. On the other hand, presidential elections like the one in early 2024 have significantly higher turnout of over 70%. The largest opposition party, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (AXCP) boycotted the vote to protest against fraud and repression of the real opposition. Its chairman announced on August 9 that a criminal case had been filed against him by the government. He said he was charged with slander and insult. Smaller opposition parties only won one seat. They alleged that voters were given pre-filled ballots and cast multiple votes. According to the Central Election Commission, 50 organisations have conducted election observation missions. The largest ob...

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